Electrical equipment burning out fault

[Chrisknowlesuk]

Recently have been called out to a rental property where the tenants have complained about various items of electrical equipement overheating and burning out.

Microwave, hair straighteners, toaster etc. Different circuits too.

Have done a general but of testing and everything seems fine apart from readings of 247 volts.

Advised landlord to get UKPowerNetworks to attend. They did and reported a reading of 242v and suggested the limit is 253.

Has anyone els come across this issue..?

 

[westward10]

Have you seen these burnt out/damaged appliances.

 

[Wilko]

Re cheapie portable stuff (often bought from a well known auction site) I wouldn't be surprised if they were intended for a 220V supply and not actually Standards approved, perhaps.

 

[dmxtothemax]

Most likely this is an over voltage situation,
247 is a little on the high side, but still within acceptted guidelines.
could go even higher when your not there.
There is a lot of cheap crappy electrical appliances around now days
Maybe that stuff doesn't handle the higher line voltage too well ?
As a guide, the power in Australia is officially 230v !
But in reality it is still 240v
But this can climb up to 250v on occasions.
Now imagine cheap chinese which could be rated as low as 220v
imagine that sitting on 250v ?

 

[The Ghost]

In a commercial setting we have had comparable events. The equipment being mission critical comms gear. The assumption has been surge/overvoltage. We got DNO to log the supply for a week and could not catch one, but still we think it is surging just not that week when the logger was on it. In our case the comms people put a UPS on it all. Does not seem to be a problem since. Not quite sure why that would work. I do think what @westward10 asked may be very telling in the answering if you had inspected the equipment.

 

[Pete999]

Most of the instals I did were critical and in most cases the Voltages and frequency were all over the place, voltage stabilisers were the cure, sometimes in collaberation with a UPs

 

[gnuuser]

Voltages and frequency were all over the place, voltage stabilisers were the cure, sometimes in collaberation with a UPs

I agree there is a gravel processing plant near home (although they have done a great job with the noise issues sometimes during peak usage voltage fluctuations can make things a bit hairy)
this protects my electronics and computers.
2400W 120V Power Conditioner Automatic Voltage Regulation AVR AC Surge Protection 6 Outlets (LC2400) | Tripp Lite - https://www.tripplite.com/2400w-120v-power-conditioner-automatic-voltage-regulation-avr-ac-surge-protection-6-outlets~LC2400

 

[telectrix]

I agree there is a gravel processing plant near home (although they have done a great job with the noise issues sometimes during peak usage voltage fluctuations can make things a bit hairy)
this protects my electronics and computers.
2400W 120V Power Conditioner Automatic Voltage Regulation AVR AC Surge Protection 6 Outlets (LC2400) | Tripp Lite - https://www.tripplite.com/2400w-120v-power-conditioner-automatic-voltage-regulation-avr-ac-surge-protection-6-outlets~LC2400

you got computers in the States????. next thing is you'll replace your horses with motors. .

 

[LeeH]

What about the rest of the street?

Surge protection is cheap so maybe try fitting one in the board or locally on the sockets.